Vanessa Vacation, Vader, and the Verpine
by Barbara Fett
Summary: #7 in Vanessa's series. Adventure has found Vanessa yet again...


A/N: Please read Vanessa's other stories before reading this one. #1 is on my website (there's a link in my profile) and the rest are on this site.   
This is the final chapter of Vanessa Vacation's saga. It was a little more than two years ago now, in May of 2000, that I created the character of Vanessa for a creative-writing assignment. I had just discovered fanfiction in March of that year, so that was where she ended up. I've had lots of fun writing her stories, and I hope you've had fun reading them.   


The warm light of Mahiru's sun shone into the window of one of the classrooms of the Mahiru School of Magic. In this room, 25 students were sitting at tables, writing with quill pens. At the desk in the front of the room sat Vanessa Vacation, their teacher. She was wearing a green robe, a conical black hat, her green-and-pink earrings, and Unitria, her Unity Charm. Her blond hair was gathered up on the back of her head. She was reading a book by a local author. 

Once, Vanessa had been an editor for a TV variety show on Earth, where she had lived and had many very interesting vacations. Then, her father, Vince, had come from space and taken her and her mother away from Earth just before it had been destroyed by the Vogons. The three of them had found their way to Mahiru and founded this school, where Vanessa had been teaching for three school years now. Today, the students were taking their written final exams. The year was drawing to a close. 

Suddenly, Unitria began to jerk around on its chain. It jumped, flopped, and then sagged, as if it were tired. 

"What's going on, Unitria?" Vanessa whispered. 

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force," Unitria wrote. 

"The Force?" 

"The Force is a universal energy field that all living things help to create. Just now, in another galaxy, millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were silenced. Something terrible has happened." 

"Oh, dear. Do you know anything more about it?" 

"I'm investigating right now. Yes - I know that it didn't happen 'just now.' It happened a long time ago. Somewhere around here, there must be a temporal warp that connects that place and time to this one." 

"Could I go through it?" 

"Yes, you could." 

"Great. As soon as school is out, I'll go through and find out what happened." 

"Sounds good to me." 

******* 

Dinner was very good that evening. It was the last night before the students went home for the summer, so a special meal had been prepared. Velma began the evening by awarding the house cup to the house that had earned the most points that year, and then they ate. 

"I've got a surprise for you," Vince said to his wife over the meal. "I've made arrangements for the two of us to go to Ursa Minor Beta together. We'll be on the beach for ten days, and I can show you the _Hitchhiker's Guide _offices while we're there." 

"Oh, that would be wonderful!" said Velma. "When do we leave?" 

"The day after tomorrow." 

"Do you have plans, Vanessa?" 

"Yes, I do," said Vanessa. "Unitria detected a disturbance today in something called the Force. It was coming through a temporal warp. I'm going to go through it to see what happened, and I want to leave the day after tomorrow, too." 

"Froody," said Vince. 

"Yes, it seems very exciting," said Velma. "I think it's a good plan." 

"Thanks," said Vanessa. 

******* 

Two days later, Velma, Vince, and Vanessa all left the school together. Outside it, they said goodbye. 

"Goodbye, Vanessa," said Velma. "Have a great time out there. Come home safely." 

"I will," said Vanessa. "You too, Mom. Goodbye." 

"Bye, Vanessa," said Vince. "Have fun." 

"Thanks, Dad. Bye." 

Vince and Velma drove off in their solar-powered car. Vanessa turned and walked through the forest, guided by Unitria. She was wearing her usual vacation dress and accumulation of accessories, but instead of sandals, she had on stronger shoes. Her sandals were in her suitcase. 

Finally, after a long walk, Vanessa found the warp. It hardly resembled the trans-world portal that had taken her from Prydain to Starwood three years ago. It looked like a black hole right there in the middle of the forest. It was on its side so that the cone ran parallel to the ground, and it was totally dark inside. 

"You know," Vanessa reflected, "before I met Davis, I didn't know that this was even possible. Now, I think it's the coolest way to travel. All right, here goes." 

Vanessa stepped over the threshold of the warp. It pulled her through its black depths at a furious speed, shoving her through its narrow center and throwing her into a distant galaxy. 

She landed on a hard floor. She lay there for a minute, then got up. She was alone in a dimly lit room full of large crates. Beside her was her suitcase, and behind her was the other open end of the warp. In front of her was the door. She collected her suitcase and went up to it. 

It had no handle, but there were some buttons on the door jamb. She pressed one, and the door flew up. "Oh," she said, and walked through, pulling her suitcase. 

Eventually, she came upon a room that was humming with activity. There was so much going on that she had to stop for a minute and take it all in. The room was a little dark and filled with upright glass panels. Each of these had a different pattern of glowing blue lines on it, and a person monitoring it. Computers - or something like them - lined the walls. She also spotted a group of people leaning over something. She decided to go over to them and see what it was. 

Vanessa stepped up to the side of the circular thing they were looking at. She looked into it and saw three more circles: one very big, one very small, and one in between. The smallest circle was moving along the outside of the largest one, preceded by a triangular beam of light. It was approaching the in-between circle, and soo, that circle would be within the beam of light. Vanessa didn't know what all this meant, though. 

Most of the people gathered around this display were male, and many were wearing headsets. The only ones who didn't fit either description were Vanessa and a woman in a white dress. She was gazing at the display, looking worried. The golden robot next to her saw Vanessa standing there, and said to the woman, "Your Highness, we appear to have an unidentified visitor." 

The woman looked up, and her eyes widened. She hurried over to Vanessa, accompanied by the robot. "Who are you?" she asked. 

"My name is Vanessa Vacation," Vanessa answered. "Don't worry, I don't want to cause trouble. I'm here to have fun, and to learn something." 

"Fun? Do you know where you are right now?" 

"No." 

"You're - well, I'll tell you when I'm convinced that you're not a spy." 

"It seems unlikely to me," said the robot, "that a spy would choose such an unusual outfit." 

"True," said the woman in the white dress, "but we have to be careful. The Empire is approaching quickly." To Vanessa, she said, "You seem to be interested in this tracking system. Stay here and watch it. That way, at least you'll be where I can see you." 

"What's it tracking?" Vanessa asked. 

"It's tracking the progress of the Death Star towards the moon we're on. If that thing gets us in its firing range, we all die. We have some of our pilots up there now trying to stop them, but things really don't look good." 

"Oh . . ." Cold dread began to grow inside Vanessa. For the next few minutes, she stood there, watching everything that was going on around her. Then she heard a mechanized voice: 

"The Death Star has cleared the planet. The Death Star has cleared the planet." 

"We're doomed," said the robot. 

Vanessa and several other people went into crouched positions. A flurry of anguished cries broke out. Seeking comfort, Vanessa clasped one hand around Unitria. 

All was silent for what felt like hours. Finally, one of the men with headsets said, "The Death Star! It's gone! They did it!" 

"They did?" said the woman in the white dress. 

"They did! We're okay! We won! We won! We won!" 

As everyone began cheering, the man next to Vanessa talked to someone on his headset. Vanessa, and the woman in the white dress, could only hear him say something about "coming back here now." 

"Who was that?" asked the woman in the white dress. 

"That was Wedge. He said an old freighter showed up and saved Luke, and it's coming back here now along with the three fighters who survived." 

"Han . . ." She smiled. Then she went to talk to Vanessa, who had gotten back up. "We're going to the hangar now to welcome our pilots back. You can come if you want." 

"Okay," said Vanessa. 

The hangar was an enormous stone cavern that was gradually filling up with people. The cheering began when the four spaceships landed. There was an old, gray, disk-like ship and three one-man vessels. One of these landed near the woman in the white dress, and its pilot climbed out and ran to her arms. Moments later, the pilot of the freighter joined them, and they talked about things meaning more than money. Then, a short, barrel-shaped robot was taken out of the fight. It had been damaged in the battle. The golden robot became worried, but someone assured him, "We'll get to work on him right away." 

"Luke, Han," said the woman in the white dress, "during the battle, this person showed up all of a sudden. Her name's Vanessa, and I don't know where she came from or why she's here." 

"And I'm not a spy," said Vanessa. "I'm only a traveler." 

A gray-haired man came up to the group. "Your Highness," he said, "we have begun to prepare for a ceremony to honor the heroes of this battle. We would like you to present them with medals." 

"Thank you, General," said the woman in the white dress. "I would be honored to." 

"Oh, hello there," said the general to Vanessa. "Who are you?" 

"Vanessa Vacation. Don't worry, I'm not with the Empire. I'm just here for a visit." 

"We'll deal with you later," said the general. "Follow me. I'll show you where you can wait to talk to us after the ceremony." 

******* 

For about twenty minutes, Vanessa sat alone in a small room. At last, a group of people entered: the woman in the white dress, Luke, Han, the two robots, the general, and a tall, furry creature that Vanessa hadn't met yet. The woman, Luke, and Han were all wearing nicer clothes than before, and the robots had been cleaned up. 

"Okay," said the general. "Tell us who you are, where you came from and what you're doing here." 

"For the third time, I'm Vanessa Vacation. I grew up on a planet called Earth, but . . . er . . . well, my father came back from traveling in space and took me and my mother to live on Mahiru, where I became a teacher." 

"I've never heard of those places," said the gold robot. 

"Well, they're in another galaxy." 

"How did you get here from there?" asked the general. 

"To explain that," said Vanessa, "I'll have to introduce you to Unitria. Hey, Unitria, say hello to these people." 

"Pleased to meet you all," wrote Unitria in white light. "I am Unitria, the Unity Charm. I help Vanessa in all her travels." 

"How?" said the woman in the white dress. "You're only a little droid." 

"I'm not a droid. I'm jewelry with a sentient mind that developed when I learned to contact other worlds - it's a long story. I'm capable of many things: giving advice, creating protective shields, scanning for portals, and more." 

"Unitria is sensitive to the Force, too," said Vanessa. 

"The Force?" said Luke. "That little thing can feel the Force?" 

"I can," wrote Unitria. "In fact, I recently felt a disturbance in it. It was a feeling of terror, of destruction. At first I didn't know what I was sensing. Then, I followed the signal here with my tracking abilities. I learned about the Force, and I found that there was a warp that led from Mahiru to here. I told Vanessa, and she decided to come here and find out what exactly I sensed. She loves seeing new places." 

"So do you know what it was?" said Vanessa. 

"I do," said Luke. "I'm Luke Skywalker, and I can feel the Force, too. My first teacher, Obi-Wan Kenobi, felt that same disturbance. What caused it was that the Empire used their ultimate weapon, the Death Star, to destroy the planet Alderaan." 

"Good glory! Why?" 

"They were trying to get me to tell them where this base was," said the woman in the white dress. "It was _my_ planet, where I was raised . . . and it was completely peaceful, too, no weapons . . ." She had begun to cry now. 

"Oh. I'm sorry," said Vanessa. "And they're the ones you're fighting?" 

"Yes." 

"Then I'll fight them with you." 

"It's not a task to be taken lightly," cautioned the general. 

"With Unitria, I feel ready for anything," said Vanessa. 

"Well, then, welcome to the Rebellion," said Luke. 

"Yes," said the general. "I'm General Jan Dodonna." 

"My name is Leia," said the woman in the white dress. 

"I'm Han Solo," said the freighter pilot, "and this is Chewbacca." 

"Awwwrr!" said the Wookiee. 

"And I am C-3PO, Human-Cyborg Relations," said the gold robot. "And this is my counterpart, R2-D2." 

"That little thing tells quite a story," said General Dodonna. "Let's go and see if the warp that brought you here really exists." 

"Okay," wrote Unitria. "Follow me." 

Unitria led the entire group back to the storage room where Vanessa had come out of the warp. Vanessa opened the door and gasped. 

The warp had shrunk to the size of a tire, and was still shrinking. "Everyone, look!" said Vanessa. "That's it!" 

They watched as the warp grew smaller and smaller and then disappeared. "There it _was_," said Vanessa. 

"You came through _that _thing?" said Leia. "Wow." 

"What now?" said Luke. 

"Now," said Vanessa, "if everyone's okay with it, I'd like to become a member of the Rebel forces." 

"I can help, too," added Unitria. 

"That's wonderful," said Leia. "Come on. The General and I can get you signed up and settled in." 

******* 

By the end of the day, Vanessa was registered with the Rebel Alliance as a surveillance specialist, which meant that Unitria now had the job of monitoring the location of enemy craft. Vanessa had an ID, a light gray uniform to wear, and a room to sleep in. It was a good beginning to her newest adventure. 

Starting the next day, Vanessa trained for her new task with the rest of the ground crew who had monitored the Death Star battle. She learned quickly, and grew to leave the work. She did this for many days, and then one morning, she received a message from Luke:   
_Please report to the hangar today at 0900 hours to discuss your joining us on a mission._   
_Commander Luke Skywalker_

When Vanessa entered the hangar, she found Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and the droids gathered next to Han's ship. Vanessa joined them. 

"Hello, Vanessa," said Luke. "Glad you could make it. You'd be a great help to us on our mission." 

"What is our mission?" 

"We're going to an Imperial base to obtain information, and we have to make sure they don't catch us. We could use Unitria's scanners to keep track of stormtroopers in the base. It'll still be dangerous, though. Will you come with us?" 

"Sure!" 

"Then go get your things together. You have fifteen minutes." 

Vanessa came back five minutes later with her purse. "Let's go!" she said. 

An insectoid alien came up to the group and spoke. "Captain Solo, your ship is fully prepared for this mission." 

"He says the ship is fully prepared for the mission," C-3PO translated. 

"Who are you?" the alien asked Vanessa. 

"He wants to know who you are," said C-3PO. 

"I'm Vanessa Vacation, Surveillance Specialist," said Vanessa. 

C-3PO relayed the information to the alien. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said the alien. "I am Chruu, starship technician." 

"He says it's a pleasure to meet you," said C-3PO, "and -" 

"I know what he said," said Vanessa. 

"You understand the Verpine language?" 

"Well, yes. When my father first took me into space, he gave me this really neat thing called a Babel fish." She cupped her hand over her right ear, shook the little yellow fish out, and showed it to her new friends. "It's a parasitic organism from my galaxy. It feeds on the brainwave energy of those around me and sends me a telepathic signal that lets me understand any language I hear." 

"That would be a great advantage for any of us," said Luke. 

"But then, what purpose would I serve?" C-3PO protested. 

"Good point," said Leia. "Shall we go?" 

"Yeah, let's go," said Han. 

They boarded the ship and took off. "Make sure you're strapped in tight, Vanessa," said Han. "Hyperspace jumps can be rough." 

"There are wilder ways to travel," said Vanessa. "I can handle this." 

The stars outside the ship became streaks as the _Millennium Falcon_ blasted into hyperspace. 

******* 

"Hey, Vanessa," wrote Unitria some time later. "I just had an idea. I want to try sharing my connection to the Force with you. If it works, you'll be able to feel when things happen, the way I felt when Alderaan was destroyed." 

"Okay," said Vanessa. "Try it." 

A light glowed pale blue around Unitria, then disappeared. Vanessa felt an odd presence within her mind. There was something in there that definitely wasn't her. She realized that it had two parts to it. One of them was Unitria, and the other . . . had to be the Force. 

Vanessa had seen and felt a lot of things, but never anything like this. Everything in the galaxy that lived and breathed and grew was somehow there with her, giving her strength. 

"Do you feel it?" Unitria asked her, not with words in light, but with a thought. 

"Yes," Vanessa answered. "It's wonderful. Thank you." 

"What's going on?" said Luke. 

Vanessa snapped back to reality. "I felt the Force," she explained, "with Unitria's help." 

"So that was _you_ I felt." 

"You did?" 

"Of course. Why don't you try doing something with it?" 

"Like what?" 

"Well, here." Luke gave her the shielded helmet that he had used in his own training with Obi-Wan. "Focus on the Force. Feel it flowing through you. Then stretch out with it and lift this." 

Connecting with the Force again, Vanessa found that she could channel it towards specific points. She got it to center on the helmet, pushed, and awkwardly lifted it. 

"Very good!" said Luke. 

"We're about to come out of hyperspace," said Han. 

They all strapped themselves in. The ship emerged from hyperspace within sight of a small green planet. 

"This is the hard part," said Han. "We have to land, get in, and get out without them seeing us." 

"I can help with that," wrote Unitria. "I can shield you so nobody can see you, not even with sensors." 

"Now would be a great time to get that started." 

"Yes, sir." 

Under Unitria's protection, the _Falcon _landed in a forest. The whole group (except for Threepio, who "would only slow us down," according to Leia), armed with blasters, got out and walked until they saw a low gray building with a few stormtroopers guarding the entrance. 

"That's the base," said Luke. "We're going in there to get Imperial information, and something else." 

"And what might that be?" asked Vanessa. 

"We don't really know. All we know is that it's in there and it's rare and valuable." 

"Can they see us?" said Han, meaning the stormtroopers. 

"No," wrote Unitria, "but that won't get us into the base. If we went down there now and tried to get in, they'd know someone was there even if they couldn't see us." 

"So we have to make sure they can't stop us . . ." said Vanessa. "I know." She took her wand out of her purse and showed it to the others. "This is something I picked up on one of my travels. It'll take care of them, but it's supposed to be a secret, so would you keep it that way?" 

"Sure," said Luke. 

They walked closer to the building. Vanessa drew on the power she had learned to use years ago in a castle in Scotland. _"Petrificus Totalus!"_

The stormtroopers fell to the ground, as stiff as so many boards. "Let's get that door open," said Vanessa. 

A few tense minutes passed as they worked to get the door open. Leia asked, "How'd you do that?" 

"Magic," said Vanessa. "It's an inborn gift. I got it from my mother." 

The stormtroopers began to jerk around, beginning to break through Vanessa's spell. "Hurry!" cried Vanessa. 

The door flew open. The Rebel team ran inside and closed it, trapping the enemy outside. 

"Artoo?" said Luke. 

The little droid projected a holographic map of the base in the air in front of them. "Our objective is the room around that corner up ahead," said Luke. 

They walked to the corner and peered around it. Another stormtrooper was guarding another door. 

"Vanessa, would you like to try out another Force power?" Luke asked quietly. 

"Sure, what do I do?" said Vanessa. 

"Well, you use the Force to influence that guard's mind and convince him that we're allowed in there. The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded, I know, but I've never tried it myself." 

"Let's learn to do it together," said Vanessa. 

"Follow us," said Luke to the others. "We'll do the talking." 

He and Vanessa led the way around the corner and right up to the door. On the way, Vanessa and Luke connected via the Force, amplifying each other's energy. 

"Who are you?" demanded the guard. "What do you want?" 

The two Force users sent a message to the guard's mind, as they said it aloud: "We are here for a very good reason." 

"You are here for a very good reason," repeated the guard. 

"We are to be allowed in that room." 

"You are to be allowed in that room." 

"You must open the door for us." 

"I'll open the door for you . . ." 

The Force transmission stopped, and the door was open. 

"It worked!" said Vanessa. "Cool!" 

They entered the room, which was small, square, and filled with storage crates and a computer outlet, which R2 immediately plugged into. "Now we just wait for R2 to download the information," said Luke. 

"What about that other thing we're looking for?" asked Vanessa. 

"It should be in here somewhere . . ." 

"Hey, look at this." 

In a corner of the room, a small black case sat all by itself. Vanessa opened it to find a green gem. "What's this?" 

"I don't know, but it seems important somehow. Maybe that's what we're supposed to find. We'll keep it." 

******* 

Elsewhere in the base, an Imperial officer spoke into the communications system. "Lord Vader?" 

"Yes, Commander?" came the deep voice of the Dark Lord. 

"We've detected a party of intruders in the base. Four humans, a Wookiee, and a droid." 

"Send some of your troops to stop them. They must not escape alive." 

"Yes, my lord." 

Darth Vader could feel a stirring in the Force close by. It was the same signature that had come from that Rebel pilot he had failed to shoot down back at Yavin. There was someone else there, too. 

Very interesting. 

******* 

"Well, we got what we came for," said Vanessa. 

"It feels like it was almost _too _easy," said Han. They turned the corner. 

A squadron of stormtroopers faced them. 

"It just got hard," said Leia. She, Han, Chewie, and Vanessa drew their blasters, while Luke activated his lightsaber. 

"Fire at will!" ordered the squad leader. 

Fear paralyzed Vanessa in the hail of energy bolts, but she soon found that Luke's deflection of the blasts with his lightsaber, combined with the troopers' rather bad aim, was keeping her relatively safe. She gritted her teeth and shot back. 

Gradually, the Rebels broke through the line of stormtroopers. They ran to the door, reopened it, and began backing towards the _Millennium Falcon_, still shooting. The troopers Vanessa had put a spell on joined in the fight at that point; the spell had lost its power quickly here in this other world. 

The Rebels made it back onto the ship in one piece and took off. One of the last remaining stormtroopers radioed a report back to the base. 

******* 

"Lord Vader, the intruders are escaping. They've just taken off in a small freighter." 

"Ready my TIE fighter. I will deal with them myself." 

"Are you certain, my lord?" 

"I am quite certain, Commander." 

"As you wish." 

******* 

"We've got company," said Han as the _Falcon_ flew away from the planet. "Imperial fighters, coming in fast." He and Luke got up and began to leave the room. 

"You're going to fight them, right?" said Vanessa. 

"Yes," said Han. 

"Can I try?" 

"How do you know you can do it?" 

"I don't. I just really want to be in on the action." 

"You could take over from me after a while," offered Luke. "Just go over there to the radio and listen for me to call you in." 

Vanessa went and sat in the pilot's chair. Through the viewport, she saw two TIE fighters and an Interceptor flying around, exchanging fire with the _Falcon_. Her Force senses told her that whoever was flying the Interceptor was a follower of the Dark Side of the Force. 

She continued to watch the battle and saw one of the TIE fighters explode. Then she heard Luke's voice over the console radio: "Okay, Vanessa, you can come now." 

Vanessa went and climbed a ladder to where Luke was. "I'm here," she said. 

"Take it away, Vanessa," said Luke, standing up. "May the Force be with you." 

Quickly, Vanessa sat down, took the controls, and started shooting. Luke helped her put the radio headset on. 

"Han, it's me, Vanessa," she said into it. 

"Hi there," said Han. 

"Any special instructions?" 

"Just aim and shoot." 

"Copy that." 

She fired. The TIEs fired back. Han took down the second TIE fighter, leaving only the Interceptor. 

"Two down, one to go," said Han. 

One of his shots hit the edge of the Interceptor's port wing. "Oh!" he said. "I almost had him." 

"I'll take care of him," Vanessa said bravely. She could feel the Force guiding her. She knew that by trusting her feelings, she could make this shot. She also knew that the Interceptor's pilot was strong with the Dark Side. _I'm going to show him the power of the Light Side, _she thought. 

"Virtue will be victorious!" Vanessa declared, and fired. 

The shot cleanly took the Interceptor's entire wing off. The crippled fighter began to spiral down towards the planet. 

"I did it!" cried Vanessa. 

"Great shot, kid," said Han. "Now let's go home." 

"I felt that," Luke said to Vanessa. "That's the way to do it. Nice work." 

"Thanks!" said Vanessa. 

Luke, Vanessa, and Han returned to the cockpit, where Chewie informed them that the hyperspace coordinates were ready. They sat down and the ship made the jump to lightspeed, rocketing away from the planet. 

******* 

The whole group was back at the Yavin base. Artoo was plugged into a computer terminal, copying the Imperial intelligence files into the Rebel database. 

The little droid beeped. "Artoo has finished transferring the files," said Threepio. 

"Great," said Luke. He opened the black case they'd taken from the Imperial base, took out the green gem, and showed it to Artoo. "Now, search the records and see if you can tell us what this is." 

Artoo searched, then emitted a series of beeps and whistles as the computer screen displayed some words and numbers. 

"He says," Threepio translated, "that what you have there is an Adegan Crystal. It gives off light when exposed to a certain frequency of light, so it was used to make lightsabers." 

"What's a lightsaber?" said Vanessa. 

"This," said Luke, turning his on. 

_"Cool!"_ said Vanessa. "Can I hold it?" 

"Okay, but be careful." He gave it to her, and she waved it uncertainly. 

"You have the Force," said Luke. "Do you want one of your own?" 

"Yes!" 

"Then let's go build a lightsaber." 

******* 

An hour and a half later, they had assembled all the parts of the new lightsaber except the crystal, which Vanessa was trying to insert. 

"Remember, it has to be balanced just right," Luke reminded her. 

Vanessa worried that she was too clumsy to get it right. The she realized that she could use her Force levitation power to set it in straight. This she did, and Luke said, "Very good." 

Vanessa closed up the handle of the lightsaber and fastened it shut. "Time to test it," she said. She pressed a button and a blade of green light appeared. 

"Awesome," said Vanessa. 

"It is," agreed Luke. "Would you like to learn more about using it?" 

"Of course!" 

So it was that Luke Skywalker gave his first lesson in the use of the lightsaber. 

******* 

Vanessa continued to learn from Luke and do her job for the Rebellion for several more days. Then, one morning, Unitria wrote, "I have some important news for you." 

"What is it?" said Vanessa. 

"I'm detecting the presence of a warp that goes back to Mahiru at a time soon after you left. A temporary influx of astronomical energy has caused the one you came through to reopen. At this rate, though, it'll close again in just a few hours." 

"Then I guess it's time to go home." Vanessa put on her vacation dress, sandals, Unitria, and the bracelet from the Digital World, and tied her hair up with a pink scarf. Then she went to breakfast, where she found Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie. 

"Good morning, Vanessa," said Luke. 

"Good morning, everybody," said Vanessa. 

"Why aren't you wearing your uniform?" 

"Unitria told me that the portal back to my planet is open for just a couple of hours. This is my chance to go home." 

"But Vanessa, we all like you, especially me. You're my student." 

"This isn't my place, Luke. I love being here, and learning from you, but my place is on Mahiru at the school where I teach, and I feel I must go back. I never intended to stay here forever." 

"Well, if that's what you want, okay. We'll tell General Dodonna after we eat." 

******* 

"You're resigning?" said General Dodonna. "You're really good at what you do. We need you." 

"Sorry, sir," said Vanessa, "but now is my time to go back to where I really belong." 

"I'm sorry to lose you. Goodbye." 

"Goodbye, sir." Vanessa handed over her ID badge and uniform and left the office. She returned to her room, packed her suitcase, and then met her friends outside. 

"It's time to go," she said. 

They made their way to the supply room where Vanessa had first arrived. Luke opened the door to find the warp back to full size. 

Leia spoke first. "Goodbye, Vanessa. It was great getting to know you." 

"Bye," said Han. "You're a pretty good shot, you know." 

"Farewell, Miss Vanessa," said Threepio. Artoo and Chewie also expressed their farewells. 

"Goodbye, Vanessa," said Luke. "I'll always remember you. You were my very first student." 

"Thank you, everyone," said Vanessa. "I'll always remember all of you, too. Especially Luke, because I learned so much from him." 

Luke smiled back. 

"All right," said Vanessa. "Goodbye." 

She stepped into the portal and was cast back into the forest on Mahiru. She stood up and began walking back towards her family's school. 

As she walked, she suddenly remembered the time she'd gone to Venezuela and surfed. That was when she had first come up with her motto, "Virtue will be victorious." _In all my experiences since then, _Vanessa thought, _that motto has always been proven true, but only because my friends and I have helped each other. We really do owe each other a lot. Without me and Mom, the Hogwarts students and staff couldn't have defeated Voldemort. Without my mom and all of them, I wouldn't have discovered my own powers, nor would I have found Unitria. Without me, Ash might not have rescued all those Pokémon that day, and without him, I wouldn't have my Pokémon. Without me, the Digidestined might have lost their battle that day, and without them, I wouldn't have this bracelet. And without me, Luke and the others wouldn't have gotten into the base so easily, and without Luke, I wouldn't know how to use the Force or a lightsaber._

She then began to wonder about the adventures that awaited her in the future. What fun they would be! Then it occurred to her that vacations were great, but coming back home to one's family was one of the best things anyone could do. And so, on she walked, eager to be home.   


Disclaimer: Star Wars and all related characters and elements belong to George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd., and Fox. Harry Potter and all related characters and elements belong to J. K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Scholastic. AOL Time Warner has the movie and licensing rights. Pokémon and all related characters and elements belong to Satoshi Tajiri, Nintendo, Creatures, GameFreak, et al. Digimon and all related characters and elements belong to Akiyoshi Hongo, Toei Animation, Bandai, and Disney, which bought Saban, the company that had the dubbing rights to it. No money is being made off this; I write because it's fun. :-) 


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